Virus Alert : The Obama Head Worm

The distribution of this new worm is quite low at the moment so, hopefully, you won’t be infected.

However, if you are, you might find it quite bizarre if you are not aware of what it is.

So read on –

If you switch your computer on this morning (Monday) then you may be greeted by the sight of a floating head of the new American President, Barack Obama.

This strange new worm was first spotted last week and, for reasons unknown, only seems to come out to play on Mondays.

Although the worm spreads via USB drive and takes advantage of autorun features, much like the confiker virus, it is not deemed to be a serious threat as it has so far failed to associate itself with any botnets or information-gathering activities.

Strangely, it would seem to be designed purely for the purpose of floating a small picture of Obama around the bottom right corner of your desktop, but only on Mondays.

Other than that annoyance, the only downside to the worm is the fact that it has been coded so poorly that it may hog system resources, causing the infected machine to grind to a virtual standstill.

Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.

Comments

This type of viruses I can understand, because I can actually believe they were made for “fun”. I don’t mind Obamas head, or anything else for that matter floating around every monday, as long as it keeps it’s dirty virus paws away from my files and hardware 😛

Doesn’t sound like too bad a virus, though I can’t understand how most people actually get infected. I went all last year without virus protection or spyware protection and never once caught anything. I am now inoculated again, but I surf safely and use a router and firewall:)